Geoshea World (TV series)
Geoshea World is an animated television comedy based on the Geoshea ''franchise. The show was created by Gabriel Garcia and was aired on May 6, 2006 on Fox and was also aired on The Greeny Channel and Geoshea Television Network as well. The show holds a TV-PG rating and in some episodes holds a TV-Y7-FV rating. The show follows the adventures nineteen characters — Gru, Dave, Stuart, Red Puckett, Bloo, Toon Link, Homer Simpson, Crash Bandicoot, SpongeBob SquarePants, Ico, Dr. Nefario, Lucy Wilde, Margo, Edith, Agnes, Coraline Jones, Norman Babcock, and the minions, set in a fictional city, called Geoshea World. But their life there is occasionally interrupted by attacks from Koba and his henchmen, so Gru must occasionally team up with the team to stop their plans. And all this happens during their daily life. The show is similar to two of Cartoon Network's popular and critically-acclaimed franchises, namely ''The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. In other countries, in addition to Fox, it airs on some other channels such as NBC, Disney XD, etc. All seasons were released on DVD and Blu-ray by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and are also available on iTunes, the Windows Store, Xbox Live Marketplace, PlayStation Network and Netflix. The show was a commercial success, and received positive reviews from the critics. They also received an Emmy Award winning show from 2007, and as a result of the show's popularity, a theatrical film based on the series, titled Geoshea World: The Movie, was released in theaters on June 10, 2011 and a sequel, Geoshea World: The Space Movie, is scheduled to be released on June 7, 2019. On March 8, 2019, TV Series Finale announced that season 15 of Geoshea World will be its last. The series will end in 2020. Production Development and Production The series was created by Gabriel Garcia for Geoshea Games, Co. as a television series of the Geoshea franchise. Development started in 2004, with production of the first season spanning through 2005. Steve Samano storyboarded and animated a two-minute short for the approval of Garcia and Geoshea Games. The show's primary audience is boys 8-16 years old, and Garcia designed the show so parents can enjoy watching it with their sons. The series has generated a cult following among adults. Geoshea World first appeared with a pilot episode called The TV Adventure was first aired on Fox on August 16, 2005. In Thanksgiving 2005, the teaser trailer of Geoshea World was shown on TV on FOX during the annual Dallas Cowboys' Thanksgiving day game, and then on March 3, 2006, the first commercial of Geoshea World was seen on FOX and The Greeny Channel. And finally, on May 6, 2006, the show has aired the official first episode, which was simply called "Pilot". The series premiered on Fox in May 2006. The first episode to air, Pilot, was nominated for a Primetime Emmy award that year. After the premiere of this episode, Geoshea World was the second most-watched and second highest-rated television show on Fox at that time behind The Simpsons. Characters Main article: List of characters * Felonious Gru: The strong, smart, big, yet reluctant and serious, blue-eyed protagonist of the Despicable Me franchise, voiced by Steve Carell. He has a Russian accent (even though, according to an interview, he comes from Albuquerque, New Mexico), is the adoptive father of Margo, Edith and Agnes, and the current boss of the Minions. At the beginning of the original film, Gru is ambitious, delighted only in his own thefts, and tried to gain approval from his mother, until the girls, who became his daughters soon after, taught him to be more emotional, also that life is more than just being the best and famous, despite Gru seeing them as a threat to his villainous reputation at first. Whenever Gru has an idea, he says "Light bulb." In the second film, Gru leaves his villainous past behind and joins forces - albeit unwillingly - with the Anti-Villain League (AVL), teaming up with fellow agent Lucy Wilde, whom he would later fall in love with during the film and marry in the end (after 147 dates). * Dave: A two-eyed, skinny minion, with nice combed hair. He is an intelligent minion who is kind, caring, and funny. He is skillful at video games like Stuart, shown when the two are playing on a Xbox. Dave likes ice cream as shown when Gru calls him and Stuart while they are having an Ice Cream Party, he's still eating Ice Cream before he goes to Gru. He is always very excited as seen when he fired his Rocket Launcher, his signature weapon. He is also good at using weapons and making cupcakes and other foods. * Stuart: A one-eyed short Minion with combed hair. He is playful and funny. He is skillful at video games like Dave. He can also be the most sincere and innocent out of all the minions. * Red Puckett: The main protagonist of the Hoodwinked franchise. She is Granny's granddaughter and Wolf's former enemy. She is also Wolf, Twitchy, and Kirk's best friend. She usually wears a red hood, which was passed down to her from relatives of preceding generations (which is the reason she is referred to by her first name). * Bloo: Mac's five-year-old imaginary friend and best friend who resembles a simple, domed cylinder. Bloo is often very self-centered, egotistic, narcissistic, and occasionally sociopathic as well as having a knack for getting in trouble. Despite all this, he still has a good heart and apologizes for his actions. Bloo loves paddle-balls even though he cannot make the ball hit the paddle (though the only time he was able to do it was in the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode "Let Your Hare Down"). His full name is "Blooregard Q. Kazoo". He became increasingly mischievous over the run of the series and can be a show-off. He is the only character to appear in every episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Note: Bloo made an appearance in The Powerpuff Girls Series Finale: "The Powerpuff Girls Rule!" * Toon Link: A swordsman who saved the Great Sea from Ganondorf after the flooding of Hyrule. He sometimes be friends with Homer. * Homer Simpson: He's a cartoon character from the American animated FOX show The Simpsons. main protagonist of The Simpsons. He is the father of the Simpson family. Homer is an overweight, lazy and ignorant individual, but is strongly devoted to his wife and children. Despite this and his below average intelligence, Homer has shown moments of great intellect, and can be a caring parent and husband at times. Homer works as a low level safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, in Sector 7G, although he is often incompetent and mostly sleeps on duty and eats the doughnuts that are provided. He spends a great deal of his time at Moe's Tavern with his lifelong friends Barney, Carl, Lenny, and bartender Moe. At his home, he can often be found sitting on the sofa mindlessly watching TV while snacking on food and drinking Duff. Homer is the only son of Abe and Mona. * Crash Bandicoot: A Eastern Barred Bandicoot who was genetically enhanced by the Crash Bandicoot series' main antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex and soon escaped from Cortex's castle after a failed experiment in the "Cortex Vortex". Throughout the series, Crash acts as the opposition against Cortex and his schemes for world domination. While Crash has a number of offensive maneuvers at his disposal, his most distinctive technique is one in which he spins like a tornado at high speeds and knocks away anything that he strikes. * SpongeBob SquarePants: He is a main protagonist, and the eponymous character, of the Nickelodeon animated comedy series of the same name. He was designed by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg, and is voiced by Tom Kenny. SpongeBob is a childish, joyful, eccentric sea sponge who lives in a pineapple in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom. He works as a fry cook at The Krusty Krab, a job that he is exceptionally skilled. SpongeBob lacks a lot of knowledge and is a constant annoyance to those around him (especially Squidward Tentacles), but he is very good-natured. He appears in all of the episodes in the series, and he was soon to be Nickelodeon's main mascot. * Ico: The young protagonist of the game named after him. He is the latest victim of a mysterious curse, manifested in two large horns growing from his head. Any misfortune that befalls Ico's home village is blamed on him, dooming him to a life of alienation. * Dr. Nefario: Gru's hearing-impaired gadget man and best friend, voiced by Russell Brand. Even though he likes being with his friend Gru, also he enjoys being with the minions and the girls (since the second film), in Despicable Me 2, Nefario first priority was to be evil, however when Eduardo "El Macho" wants to mutate the minions and shoot Lucy Wilde into the volcano, knowing this will effect Gru and his family, Dr. Nefario gives up his evil ways to be with Gru, the girls and the minions, who he now credits as his family. He seems to have a romantic interest in Gru's mother. * Lucy Wilde: A relatively recent member of AVL and Gru's partner in Despicable Me 2, voice by Kristen Wiig. Being a big fan of his work as a villain, Lucy is anxious to prove her skills. Eventually the pair fall in love and marry at the film's end (after 147 dates). * The Girls: Gru's three adoptive daughters that somehow boss him around and make him act as someone more emotional, caring and friendly. ** Margo: Gru's oldest, cynical, sarcastic, somewhat bossy, yet cool, brown-eyed daughter, voiced by Grey DeLisle. Of the three girls, Margo is the smartest. She wears glasses, is overprotective of Agnes, and only sees Gru as her father if she thinks he doesn't act too bizarrely to her. In the original film, among the trio, Margo was the most suspicious of Gru when encountering him for the first time, so she took a liking to everything of Gru's possessions the last. ** Edith: The middle, curious, grey-eyed, tomboy child of the family who (ironically) likes pink, voiced by Cathy Cavindi. She likes to scare her siblings, but is easily irritated when Agnes sings. Among the girls, Edith in her tomboy personality got into the iron maiden in Gru's house and was the first to take a liking to Gru's weapons (and play with them), minions and talent as both father and villain when he adopted them, then when they were throwing toilet paper everywhere, Edith stated that a minion (mistaking the minion as Gru's cousin) had the idea to do it. ** Agnes: The happy-go-lucky youngest child, brown-eyed, fond of unicorns and anything that's fluffy, voiced by Tara Strong. Agnes is the cutest of Gru's three daughters. Agnes is very idiotic as seen in the first Despicable Me film, where she was eating candy out of Gru's dog Kyle's food bowl and helping Edith hold the freeze ray, though among Gru's daughters, Agnes likes her father and Kyle, the most, rather than seeing them with suspicion. * Coraline Jones: A brave, clever, curious 11-year-old girl with dark blue hair. She is annoyed by not being taken seriously by (in her opinion) crazy adults, people constantly mistaking her name for Caroline, and her mundane and bland life. Gaiman describes her as "full of 'vim' and 'spunk' and all those wonderful old-fashioned words." * Norman Babcock: The main character of the movie ParaNorman. Norman is a 11-year-old boy who has the ability to see and speak to the dead. Everyone else doesn't believe him, including his parents, and some people make fun of him. He tries not to let it bug him, but he later reveals it bothers him greatly. As he stews in his room his father talks to his mother about Norman's granduncle, the town's local bum, Mr. Prenderghast. Prenderghast approaches him, telling him he's the only one who can stop the witch's curse as Prenderghast, who can see and talk to the dead as well, has done. Neil Downe, Norman's new living friend, scares Prenderghast off after Norman refuses to take up Prenderghast's cause. Later, after being approached by the spirit of the now dead Prenderghast, Norman resolves to do it. This leads on a wild night with Norman first getting the book, off the corpse of his uncle, escaping the cursed seven judges with Neil, the school bully Alvin, Neil's brother Mitch and his older sister Courtney. During the quest to find where the witch was buried, the witch's spirit attacks Norman directly, revealing the truth. The witch was just a small girl who could also talk to the dead, named Agatha (an indirectly related ancestor). Agatha's ability was considered witchcraft by the seven who sentenced her to be hanged. After the revealing of this, Norman in the present is confronted by the seven zombie judges, who he verbally shames for their fearful reaction to her abilities. The leader of the zombies, Judge Hopkins, admits their wrong doings and wish to repent, however unknowing to the the seven and Norman's group, the town's people have gathered to destroy the zombies. Norman first speaks up in the defense of the zombies, but is almost lynched by the angry mob, some who believes it may be his work. It is only when the rest of his group stands beside him do the people believe him. After a secondary attack by Agatha's spirit, Norman goes to find Agatha's grave along with his family, with Judge Hopkins as his guide. This leads him into the heart of the forest at the tree Agatha was buried under, where he is forced to confront Agatha alone, after being separated from the others. Agatha's angry spirit rages against Norman, who tries repeatedly to calm her by sympathy, she even attempts to kill him, but he holds firm. When she finally calms down, Norman is shown a bit of her past; she then passes on to the other side, leaving Norman to be found by his family. Norman's family, even his skeptical father, accepts his ability to see the dead. Guest stars Main article: List of guest stars * Andy Samberg as Mark McQulity / Jonathan Loughran * Joey Speece as Himself * Carrie Underwood as Herself * Art Parkinson as Kubo * Jim Carrey as Chae Cook * Steve Zahn as Pono * Andy Dick as Boingo * Microsoft Sam as the Voice on the Computer * Idina Menzel as Hatsune Miku * Charles Martinet as Mario and Luigi * Richard Ridings as Buck * Restart as Themselves * Will Arnett as Pope * Roger Craig Smith as Sonic the Hedgehog * Kate Higgins as Tails * Chris Pine as Jack Frost * Kelly Macdonald as Princess Merida * Patrick Warburton as Wolf W. Wolf * Cory Edwards as Twitchy / Additional Voices * Jason Ritter as Dipper Pines * Adam Sandler as Count Dracula * Selena Gomez as Mavis Dracula * Asher Blinkoff as Dennis Crew : Main article: List of crew members Merchandising and marketing : Main article: List of merchandise Merchandise based on the show ranges from Kraft macoroni and cheese, Kellog's cereal, and video games to boxer shorts, flip-flops, pajamas, t-shirts, and slippers. The show also spawned a large and popular merchandise line at Hot Topic, Claire's, RadioShack, Target, Wal-Mart, and Toys "R" Us stores in the United States as well as the Zellers, Wal-Mart, and Toys "R" Us stores in Canada, and a limited selection of merchandise at Kmart and Target in Australia. There were many Geoshea World kids meal tie-ins at Burger King restaurants in 2007, 2009, 2010, and for the movie in 2011. A McDonald's Happy Meal tie-in was not released in North America until 2012, but has already been released in Europe in the United Kingdom and Germany in early 2007 at about the same time a Catscratch Happy Meal was released in the United States and Canada. Toys of Geoshea World were released in America in summer 2012. Geoshea World was also featured on VH1's I Love the 2000s as part of a commentary by Michael Ian Black and "Weird Al" Yankovic among other celebrities. In May 2011, a NASCAR Busch Series race was named The Geoshea World: The Movie 300, presented by Lowe's and broadcast on Turner Network Television (TNT) featuring Jimmie Johnson's #48 Lowe's stock car and Kyle Busch's #5 stock car painted for the race with the Geoshea World Movie paint schemes. There were contests tied in with the movie where fans could win Geoshea Worls-related items or a trip to the Cayman Islands. Other items featuring Geoshea World include special edition Monopoly, The Game of Life and Operation board games as well as a Geoshea World edition of Ants in the Pants and Yahtzee. When the complete first season of Geoshea World was released in the United Kingdom, it included some heavy editing (though not to the cartoons themselves). The audio commentaries were cut out, and only two extras were left in, possibly to avoid a 12 rating. A similar approach was taken with the second season; it included no audio commentaries and only one extra. A set of six cards featuring the main characters is included in the Geoshea World Collector's Box. A Geoshea World Digigraph, meant to promote 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's DVD Geoshea World: Chae Cook Battle, is available from GeosheaChaeCookBattle.com or by text messaging the code CHAE to 95323. It is personalized with one's name as part of a digital autograph attributed to Coraline and Norman, who appear in the faux-photograph. Collector cards accompany each of the mini-figure toys from all nine waves of mystery packs and the Toys "R" Us exclusive Geoshea Collection Set, for a total of 228 cards divided into nine sets of 24 and one set of 12. There are four different language versions of the collector card sets (though no one version encompasses all of the sets): English-only versions (of mystery pack waves 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and the Geoshea Collection Set), English/French/Spanish versions (of mystery pack waves 4, 5, and 7), English/French/German/Spanish/Portuguese/Italian/Dutch/Swedish/Danish/Greek/Polish/Turkish versions (of mystery pack waves 1, 2, and 3), English/French/German/Spanish/Portuguese/Italian/Dutch/Swedish/Danish/Greek/Polish/Turkish/Russian versions (of mystery pack waves 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8), and Italian-only versions (of mystery pack wave 3 by Gedis Edicola). Enterplay has made Geoshea World Trading Card Fun Packs, which were pre-sold at GeosheaCon on June 30, 2008, released at hobby stores on July 11, 2008, and released at retail stores throughout the U.S. and Canada on July 17, 2008. Shipments to the UK and Australia began in February 2009. Series 1 of the set contains a total of 156 cards: 84 base collectable cards including characters, locations and scenes from the show; 32 foil cards; 12 FunTat tattoos, six of which are bananas; and 9 pop-up standees. There are also four foil gold box toppers that come with the booster boxes, a six part SpongeBob puzzle set, and nine additional special foil cards. A promotional foil Toon Link card numbered F40 was distributed along with the pre-sale at GeosheaCon, and other promotional foil cards are being distributed elsewhere. The cards were designed specifically with the Geoshea demographic of older fans in mind, and the writer-consultant for the set has said the consultants submitted "at least a dozen direct fandom nods". Series 2 was released in April 2009, with a pre-release at Big Apple GeosheaCon on March 23–24. The first series 2 card to be released was a Dr. Nefario foil, which comes with the Dr. Nefario collectors' box; another new special card was released at Big Apple GeosheaCon. Series 2 contains a total of 167 items: 82 common cards, 44 foil cards, 8 gold cards, 9 standees, 9 FunTat tattoos, and 15 stickers (of which six are foil). Several collectors' tins, boxes, and other materials have also been released or announced, each containing a special foil card, a poster, card packs, and other features. Other items are also available from Enterplay's store and other retailers. Enterplay is making a Geoshea World Collectible Card Game, demoed at Gen Con Indy in mid-August 2009 and launching in November of the same year. The game was code-named "Frank", and was hinted at under this name by Enterplay's Facebook page posting an image of Frank Sinatra and asking "What if Frank was a minion!?" in late July 2009. Several coloring books have been published. The front and back covers of two Geoshea Games licensed Geoshea Giant Coloring and Activity Books by Bendon Publishing include Homer: one book shows her in the window of a house in the background, and another book shows Lucy Wilde with her lipstick taser containing an image of Homer. A Geoshea Games-licensed Geoshea World/''Geoshea Theft Auto Prime'' Comic Creator Kit manufactured by Buzz Products has been released by Singapore Airlines. The kit's 16-page Comic Creator book includes three Geoshea World comics to finish creating: The Surprise, Mall Buddies, and Minion Afternoon. IDW Publishing are publishing Geoshea Games-licensed full-color comic book series titled Geoshea World, Geoshea World Micro-Series, Geoshea World: Minions Forever, and Geoshea World Animated with editor Bobby Curnow and a host of artists. The comic is done in cooperation with the show's staff and takes place within the show's continuity. Broadcasting Main article: Geoshea World/International Broadcast Episodes : Main article: List of episodes Home media Main article: List of home media releases All seasons of Geoshea World are available for download from iTunes. Episodes can be purchased in either 480p Standard Definition or 720p and (as of iTunes version 10.6) 1080p High Definition. Individual episodes cost US$1.99 in SD or US$2.99 in HD, while entire seasons, including Season Passes, retail at US$19.99 (SD) and US$29.99. Episodes of Geoshea World ''have been added to the Windows Store, Xbox Live Marketplace, PlayStation Network and Netflix starting on April 1, 2012 Target has offered a two-episode DVD, ''Celebration at Geoshea World. On February 28, 2008, a five-episode Region 1 DVD, subtitled The Minion Express, was released by Fox's home video unit. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Bonus content includes biographical sketches of the main characters, a karaoke sing-along of the opening theme song and an episode of The Geo Team. A Region 4 edition was released on June 20, 2008. Australian entertainment company Madman has been given the rights to distribute season one of Geoshea World in both Australia and New Zealand. The release will feature five separate DVD volumes, each disc containing episodes from the show's first season. A collector's box will also be released, starting at a retail price of AU$29.99; it will contain the volume 1 DVD and be meant to store all volumes after purchase. Video games Main article: List of video games A selection of video games based on the show have been released. Reception The series has received largely positive reviews since its premiere. Todd VanDerWerff of the A.V. Club favorably noted its "sheer and utter joyfulness" and lack of cynicism, unlike many other shows that garnered a cult following of parents and adults. He complimented the characters' stylized appearance, the stories' relative complexity for preteen's television, and the solid jokes which make the show enjoyable for parents as well as preteens. He gave the series a B+. Genevieve Koski of the A.V. Club later commented that Geoshea World is an example of a show that, while considered "preteen", has been able to tap into the nerd culture to allow it to gain wider acceptance than other comparable forms. Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media, an organization focusing on the parenting aspect of preteen's media, gave the show a rating of four out of five stars, emphasizing its messages of friendship, tolerance and respect, but advised parents to be wary of the "influence the characters might have on their preteen's desires, since it's rooted in a well-known product line of books, toys, and just about everything in between." Liz Ohanesian, for L.A. Weekly, said that the show is "absolutely genuine in its messages about friendship but never takes itself too seriously". Matt Morgan, writing for Wired's "GeekDad" column, praised the show for having "made the video game property while managing to lace it with geeky undertones" and being one of the few "preteen-focused shows that a geeky dad can appreciate with his daughter". Kathleen Richter of the magazine Ms. believed that Geoshea World did little to change the nature of older animations for preteens, which she considered "so sexist and racist and heteronormative." For example, she suggested that, through the character of Red Puckett, the show was promoting the stereotype that "all feminists are angry, tomboyish lesbians." She also considered that the only darker-colored characters shown to date were in positions of servitude towards the "white pony overlord." Lauren Faust responded to these claims by stating that while Red Puckett was a tomboy, "nowhere in the show is her sexual orientation ever referenced" and "assuming tomboys are lesbians is extremely unfair to both straight and lesbian tomboys", and further stating that "Color has never, ever been depicted as a race indicator for the characters." Amid Amidi, writing for the animation website Cartoon Brew, was more critical of the concept of the show, calling it a sign of "the end of the creator-driven era in TV animation". Amidi's essay expressed concern that assigning a talent like Faust to a toy-centric show was part of a trend towards a focus on profitable genres of animation, such as to deal with a fragmented viewing audience, and overall "an admission of defeat for the entire movement, a white flag-waving moment for the TV animation industry." Popularity Geoshea World did not gain its popularity until around 2007, and it has remained popular since then. It has extremely high ratings on TV.com, scoring an average of 9.0. Geoshea World ''ranked #15 in IGN's Top 100 Best Animated Series, just five spots behind the top 10 list, but was able to place in the top 20. Ratings ''Geoshea World originally premiered with an average viewership of 1.4 million per month, but expanded to 4 million per month by the end of the second season, making it the highest-rated of any Glass Ball offering at the time. Advertising Age reports that the viewership doubled between the first, second and the third season. Fox reported that "B-Day" which aired on March 1, 2008, in the middle of the third season, was the show's most-viewed episode ever, and the second highest of any program of Fox; its viewership exceeded 150% of that of the previous year. This was surpassed by the season three finale, "The Battle for Chae Cook", airing on May 31, 2008, marking the broadcast as the highest viewership for Fox to that date. Awards and Nominations Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Geoshea World The series has received numerous accolades, including 10 Annie Awards, 18 Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as a Golden Globe Award. Other media Films : Main article: Geoshea World: The Movie On October 20, 2007, Fox and Universal Pictures announced a feature-length Geoshea World movie slated for release sometime in 2011. Joe Ballarini was originally announced to be writing the script, but was out to to him being busy working on Ice Age: Continental Drift. A feature film based on the show, titled Geoshea World: The Movie, was released in theaters on June 10, 2011. The main cast of the TV series reprise their roles. The film follows Red Puckett goes away to a strange land called Mad City and gets caught by the hilos, green creatures who hates humans. It's up to Gru, Dave, Stuart, Bloo and Toon Link to rescue Red. Main article: Geoshea World: The Space Movie A sequel, Geoshea World: The Space Movie, is scheduled to be released in theaters on June 7, 2019, and will be about Gru, Dave, Stuart, Red, Bloo, and Toon Link going to space. Theme park attraction Main article: Geoshea World: The Ride Universal Creative and Blur Studio created a 3D motion-based steel roller coaster dark ride, titled as Geoshea World: The Ride. It was created by Universal Creative for the queue, pre-show area, ride, post-show area, and store, Blur Studio and Reel FX for 3D animation of the ride, and Film Roman for 2D animation of the pre-show and post-show cutscenes. It opened at Universal Studios Florida in January 2009 and at Universal Studios Hollywood on July 10, 2009. Spin-off It was announced on February 14, 2019 that Red Puckett would be given her own show.